People's Day

For those domicile beyond the confines of Brisbane, yesterday was the great
People's Day at the RNA "Exhibition" ("The Ekka" to the
linguistically-challenged"). A good day to avoid the city and head out for
a touch of birding. All the more if it happens to be the first opportunity
one has had to do any birding after a bout of the dreaded lurgie.
Fay and I covered the Silcock Street/Sewerage Overflow Dam area first thing
in the morning and moved on to Jones Lane which while strictly speaking is
not Redcliffe but Caboolture is close enough and interesting enough to
include as an extra-curricula activity. During the late afternoon we
covered Nathan Road, but the airport end rather than the reserve itself.
It was also a good opportunity to play with our new toy, the Magellan GPS
2000 XL "Satelite Navigator". The route from the "Baseball Park" to the
sewerage overflow dam afforded us the opportunity to put its "homing" device
into play. Not a complete test as it is very difficult to become "lost" on
the Redcliffe Peninsula but we had always been tempted to return to the
baseball park via the remnant melaleuca forest skirting the golf course and
sewerage overflow dam. We set the van as the "landmark" and proceeded.
Bingo! No problems. Following the appropriate arrows we came to within 20
metres of the van. Mind you the GPS did go a little stir-crazy from that
point on but I assume this has something to do with the built-in fault.
SILCOCK STREET (27 14' 89"S, 153 04' 69"E)
Olive-backed Oriole, Torresian Crow, Masked lapwing, Australian Magpie,
Striated Pardalote, Noisy Miner, Rock Dove (known by other unprintable
names) Australian Wood Duck, Willie Wagtail, Galah, Pale-headed Rosella,
Brown Honeyeater, Forest Kingfisher, Grey Shrike-thrush, Australian White
Ibis, Striped Honeyeater, Little Friarbird, Red-backed Fairy-wren, Spangled
Drongo, Misteltoebird, Rufous Whistler, Laughing Kookaburra, Australasian
Grebe, Royal Spoonbill, Pacific Black Duck, Chestnut Teal, Mangrove
Gerygone, Grey Fantail, Variegated Fairy-wren, Pied Butcherbird and Rainbow
Bee-eater.
JONES LANE (27 12' 81"S, 153 02' 49"E)
Spotted Turtle Dove, Magpie-lark, Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike, Noisy Miner,
Scarlet Honeyeater (a dozen or more), Torresian Crow, Grey Fantail, Welcome
Swallow, Striated Pardalote, Red-backed Fairy-wren, Brown Honeyeater, Rufous
Whistler, White-throated Gerygone, Spangled Drongo, Mistletoebird,
FAN-TAILED CUCKOO (a goodie for this time of year), Red-browed Finch,
Rainbow Bee-eater, Whistling Kite, LEWIN'S HONEYEATER (and therein lies a
long tale of a species considered locally extinct), Grey Shrike-thrush,
Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, Galah, Broown Goshawk, Double-barred Finch,
Peaceful Dove, Rainbow Lorikeet, and Pied Butcherbird. Wev also heard the
call of the brolga as we left but it was obviously coming from the Nathan
Road Wetlands.
NATHAN ROAD (27 12' 41"S, 153 04' 45"E)
Crested Pigeon, Australian Magpie, Great Egret, Pale-headed Rosella,
Torresian Crow, Willie Wagtail, Brown Honeyeater, Rainbow Bee-eater,
Double-barred Finch, White-breasted Woodswallow, Red-backed Fairy-wren, Grey
Fantail, Galah, Chestnut Teal,Straw-necked Ibis, Masked Lapwing, White-faced
heron, Scaly-breasted Lorikeet, Rufous Whistler, Welcome Swallow, Richard's
Pipit, Black-winged Stilt, Mangrove Gerygone, and Whistling Kite.
We complted the day with a brief visit to the southern end of Oyster Point
Esplanade where we picked up Australian Pelican, Crested Tern, Caspian Tern,
Silver Gull, Pied Cormorant, Williw Wagtail and Whimbrel.
A pleasant way to ease myself back into birding - and atlassing!
Julian
..........................
Julian Bielewicz
Past President
Queensland Ornithological Society
12 Florence Street
Kippa Ring, Q. 4021
Australia
Tel: +61 7 3283 4921
Fax: +61 7 3880 4272
email: